OXFORD | Vintage was very much in style on Thursday at Swayze Field.
Hunter Elliott spun some late-season magic, turning in his best outing of the season, one that resembled the notable run of three years prior when he tag-teamed with Dylan DeLucia to guide the Rebels to the national title.
Thirty-five months and a reconstructed elbow later, Elliott threw seven shutout innings, as Ole Miss popped Auburn, 9-2, to take the opening game of the series against the nation’s No. 2 RPI team. The Tigers (37-16, 16-12) had won seven of nine SEC games entering the weekend.
The Rebels (36-17, 15-13) move to No. 16 in the RPI and can take the series at 6 p.m. on Friday. The final regular season game is at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Courtesy of Florida’s win over Alabama, Ole Miss is eighth in the SEC with two games to go.
Elliott scattered four hits and struck out eight with two walks. He threw 61 of 96 pitches for strikes and held Auburn to 0-for-8 with runners on and 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
“That’s as good as he’s been and mostly fastball-changeup tonight,” Mike Bianco said. “I don’t want to take anything from him, and he was terrific, and it was a great game by (pitching coach) Joel Mangrum. He called just a great game.”
The lefty, who already had the school record for pickoffs in a season, nabbed two more off first base. He struck out multiple Tigers in three different innings. It was his best fastball command of the season, getting ahead more often and holding velocity in the low 90s.
Elliott’s seven innings are a season high and the most since 7.1 shutout innings against Southern Miss in the 2022 Hattiesburg Super Regional. He allowed more than three earned runs only once in the 10 SEC starts and went at least five innings in eight of the 10 league appearances.
“I felt really under control,” Elliott said. “I got strike one and two early which I hadn’t done a great job this year. Early on I established fastball command and all pitches were working and getting balls to good spots. Executing to the different quadrants.”
Auburn’s Cam Tilly matched Elliott with four scoreless frames, but the Rebels put up multiple runs in three straight innings after that. Tilly gave up four runs in five innings with five strikeouts and one walk.
Tilly hit back-to-back batters to start the fifth, and after Mitchell Sanford singled to load the bases, Luke Hill broke the tie with a sacrifice fly. Sanford then got in a rundown, and Ryan Moerman scored from third base during Auburn’s confusion.
Collin Reuter and Moerman had RBI singles in the sixth inning, and Judd Utermark had a two-run single in the seventh inning. Ole Miss, later in the inning, got a two-out RBI single from Moerman after loading the bases with no outs. A fifth run in the inning came in on a Luke Cheng infield single.
“Tilly is a tough match for us because of the assortment of pitches,” Bianco said. “He has two breaking balls and a couple fastballs. It’s a consistent mix and as many offspeed pitches. Early on we got deep in some counts and then got some work done against the bullpen. You never know how the counts affect a guy later in the game.”
Seven of the nine spots in Ole Miss’ order had a hit. Moerman and Will Furniss had two and three hits, respectively. The Rebels were 6-for-16 with runners in scoring position.
Will McCausland threw a perfect eighth inning. Ryne Rodriguez allowed two runners and got an out in the ninth before Alex Canney took over. He allowed a walk and two run double before stranding two runners to end the game.
It's the most runs Ole Miss has scored in SEC play without a home run. The Rebels put up 10 at Memphis with a long ball during midweek action.
